The Code of Hammurabi

“The Laws of Hammurabi are the longest and best organized of the law collections that survive from ancient Mesopotamia. King Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792-1750 B.C., had the laws inscribed on stone stelae which he placed in various temples throughout his realm.” (source)

These laws were “written when the great Babylonian empire was at its peak.” (source)

“The stela… [with the laws inscribed on it] stands almost seven-and-a-half feet tall. At the top of the stela, King Hammurabi stands before the sun god Shamash, the Mesopotamian god of justice, who is seated on his throne. Shamash gives Hammurabi the rod and ring, symbols of kingship and divine justice, thus reinforcing the ancient Mesopotamian belief that laws came from the gods.” (source)

Hammurabi “sorted his [282] laws into groups such as family, labor, personal property, real estate, trade, and business.” (source)

These strict laws covered almost every aspect of people’s lives. These laws were based on the idea, “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” but punishments for crimes varied according to rank and gender.

(“229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. 230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death. 231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house.”) (source)

Hammurabi’s Code survived long after he died. “For example, Semitic cultures succeeding Hammurabi's rule used some of the same laws that were included in Hammurabi's code.” (source)

We also have some similar laws today. “In the code, crimes punishable by death required a trial in front of a bench of judges…[and] a husband who wished to divorce his wife was required to pay alimony and child support. By creating the world's first set of organized laws, Hammurabi constituted a model set of…[laws]…for other civilizations to duplicate.” (source)

“The Law Code of Hammurabi currently resides in the Louvre Museum, Paris.” (source)